“[There is] very strong interest from the operator’s side in coming into Edinburgh so we know that interest is there. The trick now is to maintain that but at the same time bring in investment behind those,” he said.

Hotels in Scotland are outperforming tourism hotspots such as Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, according to data from PFK Hotel Consultancy Services.

Hotels in Edinburgh had the highest occupancy rate in Europe at 86 percent and 92 percent in May and June respectively, followed closely by Inverness.

Jumeirah Group, the hotelier behind Dubai’s iconic flag-shaped Burj al-Arab, had planned to operate the Jumeirah Glasgow Hotel but the developer behind the luxury project went into administration in May.

The $200m glass-fronted, 26-storey tower was billed as the jewel in the crown in a huge rejuvenation of the Scottish city.